OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEN AND

WOMEN: EMERGING EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Sarosh Sattar

November 28, 2011

Europe and Central Asia Region

The World Bank

Outline

Motivation and Objective Economic context Education Labor market outcomes Entrepreneurship Concluding remarks

Motivation and Objective

Motivation Rapid growth, so who was benefiting? Big crisis, so who was hurt?

Objective Do women and men have comparable

outcomes in key economic spheres in ECA? If not, what are the potential sources of the

differences?

Motivation: The Economic ContextEconomic growth, Sectoral contributions, and Demographic profile

ECA economic growth was robust

ECA grew robustly compared to LAC and the world average.

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 50

100

150

200

250

300

EAP

ECA

LAC

World

GD

P,

Index 1

999=

100

ECA grew well above the global average

The ascendance of the services sector

Globally, the importance of services sectors grew in GDP while the share of agriculture and services shrank

ECA LAC EU15 World-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Agriculture Industry Services

in %

age p

oin

t change,

1999-2

009

ECA experienced the largest struc-tural shift in GDP

ECA’s population is older and aging

ECA World0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

19

27

7066

118

Ages 0-14 Ages 15-64 Ages 65+

Sh

are

of

po

pu

lati

on

, in

pe

rce

nt

ECA has compari-tively few chil-dren and this will continue given low fertility

Though ECA ‘s population currently is more in their prime age years, it is because of fewer children.

Human CapitalAcademic performance, School enrollments, and Fields of study

Small enrollment gender gaps in ECA

The gender gap in ECA is minimal and comparable to high income OECD countries.

ECA LAC High-income OECDWorld-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Primary

Secondarym

ale

-fe

ma

le n

et

en

roll

me

nt

rate

s,

in %

ag

e p

oin

ts

International comparison of academic performance, 2009

The gender gap in academic performance is small and on average girls do better than boys

Reading Math Science 80

85

90

95

100

105

ECA OECD

Ave

rag

e m

ale

/ f

em

ale

sco

res,

in

%

Gender Parity

More women than men go to university

Women’s gross tertiary enrollment rates exceed those of men – and higher incomes will only accentuate this inequality.

ECA

High-

inco

me

OECD

LAC

EAP

Wor

ld -

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Female Maleg

ross e

nro

llm

en

t ra

tes,

in %

Fields of study

With the exception of sciences and engineering, female students out numbered male students in other fields.

-

5

10

15

20

25

30

Female

Male

in %

of

tota

l stu

de

nt

bo

dy

Labor market outcomes

ECA’s labor force participation rates

Globally there is a gender gap. ECA’s female and male labor force participation rates are well below the high income OECD averages Female Male

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

ECA EAP LAC MNA SSA SAS

lab

or

forc

e p

art

icip

ati

on

,in

% o

f p

op

ula

tio

n (

15

-64

yrs

)

High income OECD averages, by gender

Labor force participation rates were stagnant

ECA’s participation rates stayed stagnant despite high economic growth .

ECA EAP LAC MNA SSA SAS OECD-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Female

Malech

an

ge

in

LF

P,

19

99

-20

09

(in

%

ag

e p

oin

ts)

ECA saw minimal change in labor force participation

Employment by sector in ECA, 2008

The majority of women employees are in the services sector which is the growing sector of the economy.

Female Male -

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 Agricul-ture

Industry

Servicese

mp

loye

es a

s %

of

tota

l e

mp

loym

en

t b

y s

ex

66% of women work in services

Number of jobs lost or gained by sector, 1999-2008

Though men and women gained more or less an equal number of the new jobs over the last decade, women’s gains were almost all in the services sector.

Agriculture Industry Services-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

MaleFe-male

in m

illi

on

s

Occupations by gender

Women disproportion-ately pursue professional & technical jobs compared to men.

Men Women -

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Professionals & technicians Admin personnel

in p

erc

en

t o

f e

mp

loye

d,

by

ge

nd

er

39% of women are professionals or technicians

Raw gender wage gap

The gender wage gap is large. Moreover, once corrected for human capital it is very larger.

EU

10

Ce

ntr

al A

sia

Ru

ssia

+

S. C

au

cuse

s

W. B

alk

an

s

-

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

19

24

29

36

41

Gender Gap in time use(in number of hours per day)

Women in ECA are involved more in domestic activities than men and less than

Work Domestic Activities Freetime Other-3.0

-2.0

-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

-1.9

2.9

-0.9

0.0

-1.7

2.1

0.7

0.1

ECA OECD

Relatively few young children in ECA are in childcare

Formal childcare in ECA is not prevalent

199019952000200120022003200420052006200720080

5

10

15

20

25

30

ECA EU

En

rolm

en

t R

ate

of

Ch

ildre

n a

ge

d

un

de

r 3

, p

er

10

0 C

hild

ren

Relatively few young children in ECA are in childcare

In ECA, women with children decrease their participation in the labor force significantly

0 1 2 3 or more0

20

40

60

80

100

71

6256

42

78 75 72

57

ECA OECD

Number of children

fem

ale

la

bo

r fo

rce

(i

n %

of

wo

me

n w

ith

ch

ild

ren

)

Entrepreneurship

Business activity is relatively modest

New business activity is low in ECA compared to other regions of the world

Ta

jikis

tan

BiH

Uzb

ekis

tan

Alb

an

ia

Mo

nte

ne

gro

Kyrg

yz

Re

p

Mo

ldo

va

Lit

hu

an

ia

Cro

ati

a

Ru

ssia

n F

ed

.

Ro

ma

nia

Slo

ve

nia

Ma

ced

on

ia,

FY

R

Bu

lga

ria

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

New

regis

tera

tions p

er

1000 p

ers

ons,

15-6

4 y

ears

ECA Average

Women employers

Yet, the gender gap is still large

Armen

ia

Georg

ia

Azerb

aija

n

Lith

uani

a

Esto

nia

Slov

enia

Czech

Rep

ublic

Croat

ia

Serb

ia

Hunga

ry0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

fe-malemale

in %

of

em

plo

ye

d,

by s

ex

Female firm ownership by sector

Plastics Electronics IT ConstructionRetail Garments0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Fe

ma

le o

wn

ers

hip

in

% o

f fi

rms

by s

ecto

r

Women participate in the private sector but are poorly represented in key roles

This is for registered firms with 5 or more employees

0

10

20

30

40

Some findings about female owned firms

They are smaller in size whether in

terms of sales revenues or employees

Women-owned firms concentrate in different sectors than male-owned firms.

Female-owned firms are as profitable as male owned firms holding firm characteristics constant.

Female owned firms pay a slightly higher interest rate than men (0.6%).

Concluding remarks

Overarching messages

Europe and Central Asia’s gender

advantage is eroding and the rest of the world is catching up rapidly.

The last decade opened up opportunities for women and took away some for men, but occupational segregation and wage disparities hinder women’s progress.

The demographic transition has large and different implications for men and women in many areas including pensions and labor markets.